US embassy warns of Kuwait attack

Security has been stepped up after this month's fighting

Kuwait faces the risk of fresh clashes between militants and security forces, the US embassy there has warned.

It told US citizens in the Gulf state that a police hunt for militants wanted for a series of shootings earlier this month could provoke new unrest.

Two Kuwaiti policemen and two alleged Islamist militants died in separate incidents on 10 and 15 January.

Kuwait was used as a launch-pad for the 2003 invasion of Iraq and an estimated 12,500 US citizens live there.

Military bases in the country also host an estimated 30,000 US troops.

The US embassy urged Americans in the area to remain vigilant.

Saudi suspect

Kuwaiti authorities are interrogating several people suspected of sympathising with Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

According to the US embassy, militants involved in January's violence had been monitoring "at least one facility known to house a large number of western civilians".

Militants in neighbouring Saudi Arabia have struck several times at luxury compounds housing westerners over the past two years.

Kuwait claimed one of the militants killed in January was Saudi Arabian.